At odds with Trump, Aurora police chief says the city is still 'very safe'
AURORA, Colo. — Former President Donald Trump painted a dark picture of Colorado’s third-largest city at a rally here Friday as he once again claimed it had been overtaken by a Venezuelan prison gang.
AURORA, Colo. — Former President Donald Trump painted a dark picture of Colorado’s third-largest city at a rally here Friday as he once again claimed it had been overtaken by a Venezuelan prison gang. But the city’s police chief told NBC News that Aurora is still “very safe.”
“It's not overrun. Without question, Aurora is still a very safe city. It is still a wonderful community that is incredibly diverse,” Todd Chamberlain said. While there is some gang activity, he added, “what we hope to do is make sure that that gang doesn’t grow.”
On the trail, Trump has highlighted a specific Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua, known as TDA, after a social media clip went viral last month claiming that the gang had taken over an apartment complex in Aurora. Police at the time said there was no evidence the gang had taken over the complex, and Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, called Trump’s descriptions “not accurate.”
At his rally Friday, Trump said immigrants coming from “the dungeons of the Third World, from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions” have preyed on “innocent Americans” across the country.
“And no place is it more evident than right here,” he continued, “because in Aurora, multiple apartment complexes have been taken over by the savage Venezuela prison gang.”
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